Fresh Grape Dilemma

[DriftlessDoc]

Hi guys. Thanks for taking the time to check this out. This fall is my first attempt at making wine from fresh grapes. Early season weather has been very kind in Southwest Wisconsin and our local vineyard has had some really great crops this year. I'd been planning on doing two batches of wine from grapes this fall, one red with Marquette grapes and one white with LaCrescent grapes.

We've gotten a ton of rain the past 2 weeks just as grapes are supposed to be ripening. So far the Marquette grapes have been stuck at 19 Brix for the past 2-3 weeks, and LaCrescent are at 20 Brix.

I'm supposed to be picking grapes this weekend and the forecast calls for cool semi wet weather until then.

My guess is that I wont get much above 20 Brix for either. From what I've been reading, both grapes ideally should be harvested around 23-25 Brix.

So, that said, I don't have the opportunity to push back harvest for another week or two due to scheduling conflicts. My thoughts are to supplement the sugar content of each using concentrate. This isn't what I wanted, but I have no intention of putting a ton of work into wines with real grapes only to come out weak and flat. I figure using concentrate is better than corn sugar in that I'll get at least some additional flavor and body from it. I plan on using additional tannins as necessary for both wines, in addition to enzymes and MLF for the red.

Any anecdotal information and stories on how others have dealt with this in the past is appreciated.

Thanks guys and gals!

Chris

 

[mainshipfred]

You have the right idea, really nothing more you can do.

 

[heatherd]

Chris - you're probably right to wait until the time feels right to jump in...

Here's what I find about Marquette harvest:
https://ask.extension.org/questions/356087

...and fairly limited info on LaCrescent:
http://enology.umn.edu/news-find-all-blog-content-here
Might be worth a call to University of Minnesota Enology school, as they created that grape.

 

[Masbustelo]

I just was involved in the same scenario and added honey to bump up from brix 20 to 1.095 S.G. It didn't take very much. Honey is a much higher quality ingredient than corn sugar, or beet sugar as well.

 

[DriftlessDoc]

Chris - you're probably right to wait until the time feels right to jump in...

Here's what I find about Marquette harvest:
https://ask.extension.org/questions/356087

...and fairly limited info on LaCrescent:
http://enology.umn.edu/news-find-all-blog-content-here
Might be worth a call to University of Minnesota Enology school, as they created that grape.

Thanks Heather! Appreciate it a ton!